Love Or Something Like It
by Ariel119
Summary: This picks up right where "Swept Away" left off, since some of you expressed interest in a sequel. This story will follow Rick and Kate as they navigate their new shared world. COMPLETE! See "Bridges" for sequel.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

The jet touched down in Manhattan all too soon. As they rode from the airport to the precinct, Rick held Kate's hand, but each was lost in their own reverie, wondering how this development would impact their lives. He turned his gaze to her, only to find she was staring into her lap and blushing furiously. A small chuckle escaped him, and she raised her head to look at him questioningly.

"Why, my dear Kate, are you blushing like that? Could you be thinking about some of our weekend escapades?" he asked, with a decidedly lascivious grin.

Kate grinned despite herself. He knew her too well, which was a little scary. _How did he get in my head that easily? _she thoughtOf course, he had also gotten in her pants. She shook her head violently at that thought, it was too crude a description of what happened. Unfortunately, he took this shaking as an answer to his question.

"No? Then what ARE you blushing about? Perhaps some delicious fantasy you'd like me to play out with you?" He seemed to be enjoying her discomfort.

She swatted him on the arm. "Would you STOP already? I have to go into work and I need to be clear headed. I can't have these thoughts distracting me." She paused, regarding him. "Speaking of distractions, I would like you to answer something for me."

He nodded. "I will tell you anything and everything."

"When we were working the SpyVentures thing, you said you wanted to take a break for the summer, get out of the city to write. How is it that you managed to balance the demands of writing the first book with helping me solve cases, yet suddenly you needed a retreat? And if that's so, why are you coming back with me?" She sat back and waited for his answer.

He blew out a breath, deciding to tackle the easier question first. "Well, it wouldn't really do to be two hours away from my girl at the beginning of a fledgling relationship. I mean, I'm good, but even I can't court a lady properly at that distance."

Kate rolled her eyes at his display of ego. She couldn't decide if she should bristle or get the warm fuzzies at being referred to as "his girl". The cautious look on his face told her he was worried about how she would react. She was so relaxed from the weekend she decided to just go with it, let him off the hook for once. Besides, given his attentiveness these last few days, she caught herself wondering what a "proper courtship" experience might be like. She smiled, and he gave a relieved smile in return.

Rick swallowed hard. He had crossed the easy hurdle. Now for the tough one. "First of all, I hesitate to mention this, but I DID have time to myself while writing the first book…Last year after I poked my nose in your mother's casefile, and you ordered me out of your life? Second, I didn't need A retreat so much as I needed TO retreat. It was clear to me that I was spinning my wheels. I have been working with you for more than a year now, yet Demming comes along and poof, he convinces you to go out with him and he barely breaks a sweat doing it. So I decided to back off. If you were happy, I had to accept that. I DIDN'T have to get my nose rubbed in it every day. I DO have to finish the book, before Gina crucifies me, but I think I will have an easier time now. I just have to strike a balance. Tell you what. How about if I drop you off at the station house. You can get some work done without me underfoot, and I can go back to my apartment and write. It will be quiet there without Alexis and Mother. Then, after you have had all day to miss me…"

Kate rolled her eyes at that.

He grinned and continued "Come over and I will cook you dinner. We can have dessert, then in the morning I will cook you breakfast."

She was (playfully) scandalized at his presumption that she would be staying the night, and told him so. "And what if I just want to sleep in my own bed tonight?" she asked, smirking.

"You'd prefer we christen that one first? That's fine by me. I will bring dinner to you. How's 7pm for you?" he asked, his innocent look a complete contrast to what he was suggesting.

Beckett raised her eyebrow at him, then smiled. "Sounds good" she replied, as the car pulled up to the precinct.

She kissed him goodbye, then exited the car and practically sashayed into the building. The sexy attitude she was radiating made him bite his knuckle just a little. God he was going to miss her today.

As Kate rode the elevator, she pressed her fingers to her lips, reliving the kiss they had just shared. It had been an amazing weekend, a mind-blowing start to their relationship. God was she going to miss him today.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

Kate made her way to her desk as if floating on a cloud. This fact did not escape the notice of Ryan or Esposito. They whispered conspiratorially. "She's baaaack.." said Ryan.

"Yeah. And she's alone. She looks really happy. You know what this means?" asked Esposito. Ryan just shook his head. "Means she finally killed Castle and found a great place to hide the body!"

"Keep it up guys, you _will_ talk your way into traffic duty yet" Kate said, without turning around.

She sighed and got up again, heading to the break room for coffee. As she prepared her third cup of the day (the first was consumed at the airport and the second in the car) she gave a wistful glance at the empty chair next to her desk. She shook her head to clear it. He wouldn't have been here today anyway, at least now she had tonight to look forward to. Still, though she hated admitting it and adding more volume to his inflated ego, she liked the unique perspective he brought to their cases. Oh well. He was a mere phone call away.

As if he was reading her mind, her phone rang in her pocket. She glanced at the caller id and was greeted by his smiling face. Dammit, he'd been messing with her phone again. She hadn't even known the phone could register a picture as caller ID, and she certainly hadn't taken any pictures of him. She flipped the phone open and sighed as loudly as she could. "WHAT, Castle? I'm trying to work here."

"Nonsense, darling, you are just trying to soothe your caffeine jones." His smooth voice issued from the phone and fell on her ear like a caress.

She spun around quickly, expecting to see him standing in the doorway. "How….how do you know that?"

He chuckled warmly. "Lucky guess. I can set my watch by you for pretty much the first hour of the morning. Listen, I'm sorry to bug you already.."

"No you aren't, don't lie" she cut him off.

"Ok, true, I do love bugging you, but I also like my chances of seeing you tonight, which I'm guessing are dropping with every word, so I will get to the point. What should I do with your luggage?"

"My… oh right. Just bring it to your place. DO NOT go through it. As a matter of fact, let's amend the plans, I will come by tonight to retrieve it." She replied, glancing out into the squad room and feeling relieved that her bat-eared subordinates were too busy talking to pay attention to her.

"Fair enough, sweetie. See you later." Castle murmured to her, then disconnected before she could respond. Probably did her a favor, she certainly wasn't about to respond in kind with terms of endearment.

Sudden activity caught her attention, and she strode toward Ryan and Esposito. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Duty calls, boss" said Ryan. "A body was found at DynaGene. Really messy from the sound of it."

Rick regarded the phone he had just slid shut, eyeing it as thought it might come to life and bite him. He hoped she wouldn't be pissed that he had hung up on her, but he liked having the last word, and he had a hunch he had spared her an awkward moment, trying to find words that would not be too much of a give-away to her squad buddies. Besides, if she was going to squirm, it was so much more fun to be in the room with her to witness it. In fact, if she was coming over tonight, he had preparations to make.

An annoying little voice in his ear reminded him that he should do the responsible adult thing first, and get some writing done. He sighed, sitting down at his computer , then brightened, deciding that seeing Kate would be his reward for a hard day of work.

The detective trio arrived at a building in an industrial park a few minutes later. They were introduced to Henry Sullivan, the facilities manager. They were all required to don gloves, which was the norm, but also some sort of filmy shower cap hair covering, goggles, jumpsuits, and paper booties. They were then shown into a room that was so white it was nearly blinding. The walls were glossy. That wasn't the only assault on the senses, however. The smell was overpowering. "Ugh, what IS that?" Ryan asked.

"Cooked Homo sapien" Lanie replied, leaning back to address them. She seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. As they approached, they understood. She was kneeling next to the body. At least, that's what Kate assumed it was, because to her it looked like nothing more than an oversized turkey carcass wearing the same garments the rest of them were. Lanie and the body were in a large stainless steel….closet? It was not quite high enough to stand up straight inside. When Kate stepped into the box, she noticed her feet getting warm. " Come to think of it, heat seemed to be radiating from all around her. "What the hell IS this thing?" she asked, stepping out again.

"It's an industrial sized autoclave. It's used for sterilizing containers and other materials used in manufacturing pharmaceuticals" This last came from the person who had accompanied them.

"So..my victim was sterilized to death?" Kate asked.

"Well I won't know till I get him on my table whether that's what actually did him in. For his sake I hope to God not. That's a horrible way to go. This thing does its job by pumping steam at 121 degrees C into a pressurized chamber. No bacteria on earth can survive it." Lanie replied, shuddering. "The meat is falling right off the bones"

"Castle's gonna be so pissed he missed this one" Esposito said.

"Nah" Kate replied. "He'd never have made it past getting in this silly outfit. Why ARE we in these get-ups anyway?"

Henry, who had accompanied them into the room, cleared his throat. "This is a clean room. We are required to keep particulates in the air down below 10,000 per cubic meter. Clothing and exposed skin shed particles at an alarming rate. The room is cleaned twice a day, floors , walls and counters."

"Exposed skin. Now I am really glad Castle's not here" Kate said.

"Yeah but that presents us with a forensic problem. Whoever put this guy in there had to have been gowned up like us, anyone walking past the doors would have noticed if he wasn't. That means NO fingerprints, no shed hairs, no shoe prints and any other trace was probably cleaned away" Lanie said. She backed out of the chamber and tried to blot her forehead with her sleeve. "Damn it is hot in there. You'd think it would have started to cool down by now."

Henry spoke up again. "That is a jacketed unit. It's like a double hull. Steam is piped between the walls constantly, to keep it warm, otherwise it would take forever to heat that much metal. There are also two drains with screens, I am not telling you how to do your job but you might check those."

"Is there anything else you can tell us that might be helpful?" Kate asked. "Is there any way to tell when this was used?"

"Well, the machine generates a printout with all of the cycle data, including the start/end time. Unfortunately they seem to have taken it with them. I can talk to some people, see who ran the last cycle before this one. We are required to keep careful records of the autoclave data for each batch, in the event that anything goes wrong." Henry replied.

"So our killer would have to have been here at the end of the cycle to take the printout. How long do the cycles run?" Kate asked, eyeing the complicated looking touch pad.

"The typical automated cycle runs 40 minutes, but it is possible to manually reprogram one of the cycles to go shorter or longer. You'd have to be well versed in this unit to do it though. That means you are either looking for one of my people, or an outsider with working knowledge of this unit." Henry shook his head sadly. "I hate to think an employee did this."

Do we have any clue as to who our victim is?" Kate asked, looking doubtfully at the mess.

"Not yet. I will most likely have to go off dental records for this one." Lanie responded.

Kate turned to Henry. "How likely is it that the victim was NOT an employee?"

He considered that. "Hard to say, but any visitor must sign the log, in and out, and all employees must badge into secured areas. I can get you a record of all comings and goings for this area."

Kate nodded. "Thanks. I think that's going to be all for now. Let's go, and let Lanie package the body for transport."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Kate and the guys returned to the station, with a promise from Henry that he would fax over the security badge logs as soon as he had compiled them. Back at her desk, Kate slogged through the paperwork that had accumulated on her desk over the long weekend. When her grumbling stomach told her it was time for lunch, she called Lanie to see if she was available. Given the gruesome appearance of their victim, they made a mutual agreement to have salads.

As they settled into their booth, Lanie eyed Kate. "Well?" she prompted.

"Well what?" Kate asked, feigning oblivion.

"Don't you toy with me, girl. You and writer boy stroll off into the sunset like a couple of teenagers, then I hear diddly squat from you ALL weekend. You show up at the crime scene this morning without him. What happened? Did Prince Charming fall off his stolen horse?"

Kate took avid interest in her salad greens, poked at her carrot shreds and rearranged her croutons. She was enjoying withholding the details from her best friend. That is, right up until she received a sharp kick under the table. "Spill it, NOW, girlfriend" ordered the sassy ME.

Kate took a sip of her iced tea, and decided to begin…well…at the beginning. "Ok, ok. For starters, he chartered a plane to get us out there. The plane was met by a limo…" she continued, describing the flowers, the amazing house, the adjoining bedrooms, and that sweet first kiss. This last tidbit was greeted by a coughing fit, as Lanie had chosen that unfortunate moment to take a sip of her own drink.

"WHAT?" she cried, causing startled people at other tables to look at them.

"For God sake, Lanie, how about a little discretion?" she pleaded.

"Ok sorry, but he finally kisses you and you wait till now to dish the dirt? Have I taught you NOTHING? Alright let's hear more. Continue!" Lanie ordered, waving her hand like the queen.

Kate told all, the breakfast in bed, the wine country, the balloon ride. Well almost all. She left out the part about the blindfold. No need to give her friend a coronary right away. She described the picnic(more kissing), the dress, the dinner and dancing(still more kissing). She paused, giving her friend a chance to brace herself. "Lanie, I swear, if you have to stuff a roll in your mouth, do it, but if you make other people stare at us again after I tell you the next part, I won't share details with you EVER again. Got it?"

Lanie's eyes widened. " This MUST be good."

Drawing a breath for strength, Kate continued, mentioning that they went for a swim and then a soak in the hot tub. At that Lanie actually did take a huge bite of her roll. Kate chuckled as she described leaving him all bothered. When she got to the part about the handcuffs, Lanie clapped a hand over her mouth and Kate prayed she didn't have a stroke.

She decided that for Lanie's sake as well as her own modesty, and because at this rate they would finish lunch and get back to the precinct in time for shift change, she would fast forward the story. "After that, we made love, caught a sunrise, made love again, had breakfast, hung out on the beach, made love again, played poker with Rick's writer buddies, made love yet again, went for a ride in his yacht, had dinner, toasted marshmallows, made love once more, then packed up and came back to the city."

It was a few minutes before Lanie found her voice. By then both had finished their lunch and were walking back to the police station. "Damn" she finally said.

"Oh yeah, one more thing…" Kate said, once Lanie was in the lobby of her lab and Kate was safely in an elevator with her finger on the "close" button. "We exchanged 'I love you's" she announced as the door closed.

Back in his loft, Rick was industriously typing away. He had given his heart to his muse, and received hers in return. The euphoria that came from that was better than any alcohol buzz he had ever gotten. He cranked out three full chapters before looking at the clock and seeing that it was close to 4pm. He hurried out to do some shopping, and when he returned it was after 5pm. _Damn… _he thought. _Time to start getting things ready. _

His first action was to go change the sheets on the bed. The housekeeper had been in over the weekend and made up his bed, but he had a couple of sets of satin sheets for "special occasions", and he always made the bed himself. Partly it was because he didn't want Helga getting the wrong idea about him, after all he had a mother and an impressionable teenage daughter living in the house. But mostly it was that he enjoyed preparing the bed for his lover. Never was it more important, for now it was Kate, and he wanted the experience to be perfect for her. To this end, he had purchased a new set, then ran the steamer over them to get rid of the funny rectangular wrinkles. She wouldn't want him to make a huge fuss, and new sheets were decidedly fussy.

He lit some scented candles, then went back downstairs. He took the fresh flowers and put them in a vase in the center of the table. Now to cook dinner. He had decided on mushroom soup, then a rich fettuccini al fredo, and brownie sundaes for dessert. He put some mood music on the stereo and began cooking, humming to himself.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The brownies were baking in the oven and everything else was simmering when the doorbell rang. Rick practically flew to the door. They had been apart less than 12 hours, but it felt like a month. He opened the door to greet a slightly bashful Kate. "Come in, come in." he urged, with a hand at her back. He helped her take her jacket off, then folded her into a hug. He drew back and kissed her, wishing he could give her a homecoming like this every night. _But this isn't her home! _ A voice in his head whispered. _Not yet _a stronger voice asserted. So strong, it almost sounded like it been spoken aloud.

A glance at Kate's confused face confirmed it. "Not yet what?" she asked, giving him kind of look she usually reserved for when he started spinning one of his over the top theories of the crime.

_Crap, Ricky, THINK. Recover. You tell stories for a living. How hard can it be to explain why you are starting conversations in the middle? _

"Um, I mean, dinner's not quite ready yet. Fix you a drink?" he finished, plastering what he hoped was a nonchalant on his face. The skepticism in hers told him he hadn't quite succeeded, but then she just smiled. "Vodka and cranberry juice?" she asked.

He smiled back, relieved she had put her detective training away for the day. "Coming right up!"

He found her sitting on the couch. He handed over her drink, then made his excuses to check on dinner. He returned to the couch and held his hand out to help her up. "Dinner is served, m' lady." She followed him into the dining room, where the table was set, complete with taper candles glowing brightly. She sat down, and once he was seated, dipped her spoon in her soup and tasted it. She closed her eyes, just for a second. "Mmmmm" she said appreciatively, then dug in for more. Rick was thrilled she liked it.

They finished their soup, then Rick got up to go to the kitchen. He returned with two plates piled with pasta. He placed one in front of her, then sat down and waited. She sampled the al fredo pasta and gave him a happy look. "Oh wow. I could get used to this…" she said.

Inside, Rick was doing a victory dance to beat all. He smiled as though he had won the lottery. After dinner, Kate insisted on helping him clear the table. She expected to find a disaster in the kitchen, but he was apparently the sort of cook who cleaned as he went. He took the dishes from her hands and put them in the sink to soak. He took the brownies out of the oven to cool, then slapped at Kate's hand with the spatula as she tried to pinch a piece from the tray.

They went back to the living room to relax and let dinner settle. Rick sat down on the couch, pulling Kate down next to him, then curled an arm around her shoulders to bring her in for a kiss. She turned toward him and kissed him in return, then pulled back and shifted to lean against him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Dinner was amazing, and you have no idea what a favor you did for me by going vegetarian tonight," she said.

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

She took him through the details of the day, shuddering as she described the body. He rubbed her shoulders as she talked, then gently pushed her away from him and guided her onto her stomach so that he could rub her back. This time she offered no protest when he slid her blouse up to gain full access to her back muscles. One hand left her skin and she heard him fishing in a drawer in the side table. She pinned him with a playfully scandalized look when he asked her to remove her blouse entirely.

He was the picture of innocence as he held up a bottle of oil. "Don't want to stain your blouse, do we? My dry cleaner has a hell of a time getting this stuff out."

She was tempted to ask just how many times he had challenged his dry cleaner with this task, and more importantly, whose clothing had been involved, but thought better of it. They were both consenting adults with histories. She simply complied.

This caused Rick to pause. Compliant Kate wasn't something he was accustomed to. He dripped the oil into his hands first to warm it, then began massaging her back again. She let out a few soft moans as his hands worked the muscles of her back. "Feels wonderful," she said, her voice slightly muffled by the couch cushion. When his hands started to slip beneath the waistband of her pants, he felt a shock of pain in his thigh. He looked down to discover that her left hand, limp with relaxation seconds ago, was pinching him. She had almost gotten a far more vital area. He whimpered and removed his hand. This was the Kate he was used to, but they should be far past the "swatting down advances" stage. "What was that for?" he asked petulantly.

The note in his voice told her she had hurt more than his leg. Kate flipped herself over to look at him. He was kneeling beside her, and quickly sat back on his heels in case she planned to hurt him again. She smiled to prove she wasn't angry, except at herself. "I'm sorry. Really. It isn't much of an excuse, but try to remember that you have been coming on to me for how long? Almost two years? My defenses are almost instinctive. It's going to take some time to squash those reflexes. Forgive me?" She asked.

To show he accepted her apology, he kissed her, then motioned for her to turn back over, and resumed the massage. When he was done, he gave her one of his t-shirts to wear, in case there was oil left on her skin.

"Thanks" she whispered, before kissing him again. As she did so, her hands went to the buttons on his shirt. She pulled away as she got the last one undone. She caught a look in his eyes that suggested _he_ was coming undone as well. She smiled coyly, slid her hands around to his back and stroked up and down. "Ooh, your turn. Seems you don't have good posture when you write, you are all knotted up."

He slid his shirt off and lay down. Because she didn't have the arm reach that he did, and mostly because she liked to keep him guessing, she stepped up onto the couch and sat down straddling him. Funny how that made him seem less relaxed. She chuckled to herself. She drizzled the oil down his spine, causing him to shiver. Here again was this heady feeling of control.

She slid her hands up his spine, over his shoulders, down his arms, kneading his triceps. She reversed the path, then at the base of his spine her hands split slightly, to caress his ribs then shoulder blades.

Kate continued this pattern for a few minutes, then stood up and instructed him to turn over. She began to massage his chest, her eyes locked on his, until he could withstand no more. He sat up and grabbed her for a breath-stealing kiss.

"Come upstairs with me, please?" Rick said softly. He actually sounded unsure of himself, which Kate found hard to believe. She doubted he ever needed to do more than crook a finger to get women into his bedroom…she stopped that train of thought. There was NO point in getting catty about his past.

She nodded, holding his gaze as she stood up. He held out his hand and she allowed him to lead her up the stairs and into his bedroom. The air smelled of jasmine. He pulled back the comforter to reveal sea green satin sheets. They undressed one another slowly, kissing, tasting, discovering until nothing but the air stood between them.

He picked her up as if she weighed nothing and lowered her to the bed. She loved the sensation of the satin beneath her. He took a rose from a vase she hadn't noticed earlier, and held it beneath her nose so that she could appreciate the scent. Then he trailed it across her cheek, down her neck, down the valley between her breasts, across inch her stomach, down her hip toward her knee, ending by tickling the bottom of her foot. Never in her life had a flower been given such an erotic role. He laid the flower aside and began to kiss every square that the flower had touched. While the flower's trip had occurred in near silence, (for Kate had been holding her breath), this return voyage was accompanied by a low moan akin to purring. When his lips reached the tip of her nose, she shifted her head so that he kissed her lips. She begged him to take her, and he happily complied. Their climax was swift, powerful, and nearly simultaneous. As they lay cuddling, Castle whispered "You know what I really, really want?"

Kate dared not answer. Whatever it was, she was sure it would be at least an hour before she had the strength to try it. He turned her face toward him so that he could read her look of trepidation, and laughed out loud. "Oh you naughty girl, you have your mind in the gutter. I will get you to tell me what's got you looking like that, because I am really intrigued to find out what you THINK I want. I will leave you alone for a moment, so that you can ponder how I plan to extract that information," he said, sounding like a B movie villain. All he needed was a mustache to twirl. Then in a completely different, bright tone, he added "Be right back..."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Castle returned a few minutes later, with one hand behind his back. "Why don't you take a seat on the couch?" he requested, pointing to the cushy furniture facing the window. She wiggled into the t-shirt before walking over to the couch. She sat, folding her legs under her. Rick came around to face her, sidestepping like a crab so that he shielded whatever was in his hand from her view. A mischievous smile played across his face.

"Now, my dear, tell me what I want to know. You thought I wanted something…kinky, perhaps? You realize that in order for you to try to imagine what was going through my mind, you'd have to a pretty dirty mind yourself. Then again the way you played with me out in the Hamptons, I think I already knew that. Regardless, you might have an inspired idea we could try. So, start talking or…"

"Or WHAT?" Kate snapped, her brow so furrowed her eyebrows were nearly touching. Then, before he could backpedal, she continued, her voice and look softening dramatically. Oh how she love to keep him off balance. "Or I won't get my brownie sundae?"

Rick blinked rapidly, clearly disappointed. "How did you…? You didn't peek…"

"Didn't need to." She pointed to herself. "Detective, remember? Years of training honing my observational skills. Besides, Darth Sidious, while you were delivering your super-villain soliloquy, the ice cream has been dripping all over the floor." She finished, with a pointed look behind him.

He looked so forlorn she couldn't help but laugh, and he joined in. He handed her the large bowl and two spoons, then took the napkins to blot the floor. "Helga's gonna be pissy with me about this. She told me not to eat in my room."

Kate was confused. "Hold it, who the hell is Helga, and where does she get off telling you what to do in your own house?"

"Housekeeper. Large, frightening, East German housekeeper" he replied. "Food stains like this are murder to get out of a carpet. But in case you were going to ask me why I allow her to boss me around, she's sorta like family. Been with us since before Meredith left me. She only comes in a couple times a week now, since Mother moved in and Alexis is almost grown."

Kate had dug into the dessert while he was talking and blotting. "Mmmm good."

Rick stood up and joined her on the couch, claiming the other spoon and helping himself to a liberal bite. "I thought you'd like it. And I figured we'd need the calories to sustain us for whatever is next." He said, with a suggestive wink.

"Nice try, but what's next is 'Kate goes home because she has to work in the morning'"

Castle made no attempt to hide his disappointment. "Go home?" he asked faintly.

"Yeah, Castle, you remember, my apartment, where my things are? If you think I am doing the walk of shame, you have another thing coming," she replied.

Now he looked so sad she could barely stand it. "First of all, you have 'things' here. Remember your suitcase? I know you said not to go through it, and I mostly obeyed, but I found a loophole. I got Helga to launder everything for you. It's all in the closet. But second, and way more important, now that I think about it…you're ASHAMED of me? Of _us?_"

Kate sighed, put the bowl on the side table, and took his hands in hers. "No, of course not, that's more or less a figure of speech. However, I told you I am not big on broadcasting my personal business. I know everyone assumes we are already sleeping together, I am just not big on proving them right." She paused to think. "But it is late, and if as you say, I have fresh clothes here…" she trailed off.

Rick fairly beamed at her. "Then you'll stay? Because I really do enjoy waking up with you."

Kate nodded and reclaimed the ice cream bowl. "Now help me finish this, will you? I hate to see good chocolate go to waste."

They finished the treat while watching a little late TV, then turned in for the night. Sometime in the wee hours, in the dark, Rick was startled out of a deep sleep by a caress of a very intimate nature. Kate, he determined, was awake and had slipped her hand inside his boxers, trying to stir him for an encore performance. _Wasn't she the one talking about work in the morning? Oh well, mustn't disappoint the lady _ he thought, and rolled over to position himself above her. When he reached down to touch her with equal intimacy, he found she was already ready for him. No preamble was needed, especially since her hips rose to push against his hand. He gently entered her. She clung to him and he took her on a ride to soaring heights. She started her climax but he slowed, and the rhythm change brought her back from the edge. The tension built up again and this time he let it culminate until she cried out, relaxing her hold on him. A few seconds later he joined her with his own cry, then rolled sideways so as not to crush her. They both went back to sleep. No words were used, because none were needed.

In the morning Kate got up and dressed for work. Rick made breakfast for them, then saw her off, arming her with a cup of coffee. They agreed to meet for dinner at a cozy Italian restaurant.

At work, Kate found a fax from Henry, with usage details for the clean room where the body was found. Apparently, the last time the autoclave had been run was from 5:02 to 5:42 pm the night before the body was found. The technician had discovered it the next morning when preparing to sterilize the next batch of equipment. So there was her window. Figuring on 15 minutes to gather the previous batch and leave the room, that meant the body could have been put there anywhere from 6pm to the next morning, when the gruesome scene was found.

Next she looked at the security badge logs. They were for the whole suite, which included several rooms. It narrowed down the suspect pool, but not by much. 25 people had entered/exited during that time frame. Time to go talk to Lanie.

Kate made her way down to the morgue and found Lanie in the middle of another autopsy. She knocked on the window, and Lanie gave her the "one minute" sign.

Lanie came out of the autopsy room, peeling off her gloves as she went. "Good morning, little lovebird. You got some again last night, I see."

Aghast, Kate blushed madly. "Never mind, this is not the place for that discussion. Did you find anything of interest with our corpse?"

"Pshh please girl, don't play the prude card with me, I know you too well. And there's no one down here but us. Don't think the corpses are gonna stare, do you?" Lanie asked, a hand on her hip.

"Please, can we talk about evidence?" Kate begged.

"Oh, alright. We lucked out with those silly nylon suits, in more ways than one. First of all, it kept the body from falling apart until I got it here. But second, it kept things in as designed, namely an ID badge. The heat melted it a bit, but it has a magnetic stripe. I bet if your guys take it back over to Dynagene, they can read it and see who it belonged to. Also I took dental x-rays, maybe if someone is reported missing you can match it that way."

Kate nodded, taking in all this information. "Cause of death?"

"Blunt force trauma to the back of the head definitely rendered him unconscious, which makes sense, because nobody would willingly hold still and watch the door to that awful box slam shut on them. Hard to say whether it killed him or the heat did. This was a gross one. As the temperature hit boiling, the tissues expanded, following the easiest path, out the cracked skull." Lanie shook her head. "Nasty."

Kate took in a few deep breaths to quell the nausea in her stomach. "Think I will be skipping lunch today. Can I get that badge from you?"

Lanie handed the evidence bag with the badge across to Kate.

Beckett went back upstairs, intending to speak to Ryan and Esposito about getting the badge scanned. Esposito was on his phone, saying "yes, we'll be there right away."

"Another case?" Kate asked.

He got close to her before responding, speaking so that only she could hear. "Yes and if Castle is on your radar like I think he is, you might want to call him. This one is up his alley" He handed her a piece of paper with the address.

Kate's eyes widened briefly and she considered calling him on the carpet for his presumptuousness, but he was sort of like a brother, and she didn't want to insult his intelligence, so she simply nodded and pulled her phone out. She hit speed dial 3 and Castle picked up almost immediately.

"Miss me already?" he asked her teasingly, and she had to fight the smile. There was another murder to investigate, this was not the time for flirting like some school girl.

"Yah, hi, are you busy?" she asked, her voice all business. She hoped he would understand.

"Never too busy to help my favorite detective, if that is what you are really asking. It's ok, I get it. Just tell me where and when." His voice was more serious now.

She told him the address, and that she and the guys were leaving immediately.

"Be right there!" he responded eagerly.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

When Kate stopped her car just behind the other emergency vehicles, she glanced in the rear view mirror and was only mildly surprised to see Castle exiting the taxi directly behind her. She stepped out of her car and locked it, waiting for him to catch up to her. She pointed a finger at him and on a low hiss, said "Now remember, _**behave yourself!" **_ Her tone was saturated with meaning. She looked into his eyes, and he raised one eyebrow at her.

"And if I don't, will you punish me?" he whispered.

She glared at him, then turned on her heel and strode into the building. Inside the apartment, Kate asked a uniformed officer to direct her to the body. When she entered the room he had indicated, she stopped short so suddenly that Castle crashed right into her back, nearly sending her sprawling. He grabbed the doorframe with one hand and her upper arm with the other, preventing her from falling. He gave her arm a little squeeze that no one would notice, before releasing her. She nodded her thanks to him, trying to play it cool.

The doors to the bedroom closet had been removed and replaced with bricks. A few of the bricks had been removed and a corpse was visible through the hole. Cause of death wasn't hard to figure out, as there was a large hole in the victim's chest. Adjacent to the closet, a few floorboards had been removed, and a chunk of something was visible.

Kate was so intently studying the object, she never heard Castle come up behind her, and so she jumped when he spoke. "Is that...? No way, too cool…"

"Is it what? What's cool?" Kate asked impatiently.

"Don't you get it? It's the heart, the telltale heart. Apparently your suspect is a seriously freaky Poe fan. I am glad I didn't miss this." His glee was a bit over the top.

"Castle, crime scene, remember? How about a little respect?" She had to say this to him so often when they were together, it was practically becoming her mantra. Too bad she would never achieve inner peace, no matter how often she said it, because he rarely listened to her.

He had the grace to look properly repentant, if only for a moment. He turned away and started looking around the room, his hands in his pockets. _Finally,_ she thought. Her phone chirped in her pocket, signaling an incoming text. She checked the display and stifled a smile.

You're beautiful when you're angry…

She glanced at him, but he was still not looking at her. She shook her head and put the phone back in her pocket.

Seconds later, it chirped again. Can't wait to get you alone… she looked up and he casually looked her way, before going to inspect one of the bureaus. She put her phone away.

When the phone went off for the third time, she impatiently set it to vibrate, before checking the latest incoming text from Castle. A writer with a passion for techno-gadgets sure was a dangerous combination. Wanna cuff me again?  the message displayed on her screen. She started to sputter with surprise, but covered it with a cough.

She ignored the buzzing of the next text because she was talking to one of the crime scene technicians. They were strategizing as to how to take down the wall without disturbing the evidence. Methodically with a hammer and chisel was the conclusion they came to.

Her phone buzzed again, so she turned toward a wall so she could view the two new messages waiting for her. The first one read Will you wear the red negligee for me tonite? This was followed by So sexy I can barely stand it.

Kate was on the verge of a full hissy fit. She glared over at him, but the only acknowledgement was a slight twitch of his lips. To everyone else in the room, he appeared to be the complete professional, taking in details. His hands were still in his pockets, but another fit of buzzing got her attention. She glanced at the display one more time. Am I misbehaving enough yet?

Damn his hide. The sonofabitch had taught himself to text blind. She knew if she tried to reprimand him, he had a golden "I didn't do anything" ticket, complete with witnesses. To prove it, she would have to state what he was doing, and saying some of that stuff out loud would be embarrassing as hell, not to mention irrefutable confirmation of their relationship status change. The worst part of all was that she knew Castle was perfectly aware of all of it. He had cornered her, alright.

Kate wished she had been able to control herself, ignore him so he wouldn't know he was getting under her skin again. Oh well, that ship had sailed. She would love to just send him home, but that would seem weird to the others and she didn't need them asking questions. Speaking of questions, one of the uniformed officers was standing beside her, and seemed to be waiting for an answer. "Uh, sorry?" she said. Damnit, now he was distracting her. This had to stop.

"Do you need anything else, Detective Beckett?" he repeated.

"Yes, could you find Detective Esposito and ask him to come in here, please?" she requested.

The officer nodded and left the room. She pulled her phone out and began a message of her own.

Across the room, Castle was looking through a photo album. His phone buzzed and he lifted it from his pocket to check it. It was a message from Kate. Cut the crap, Kitten, or next time we go to the shooting range, I'm using YOU for target practice!"

It took a minute for the reply to come in, during which Esposito arrived at her side. "Yeah, boss?"

"Take Ryan and canvass the building, find out if anyone heard anything unusual in the last few days."

After he left, she checked her phone. Is that supposed to scare me? You threaten to shoot me at least 3 times a week.  She shook her head and walked up to him. He jumped when she spoke. "What do you have there?"

"The woman in the pictures appears to be the victim. I found a lease agreement co-signed by Judy and Matthew Porier. I also found torn up letters in the trash, addressed to Judy, but not from her husband. Some guy named Bruce. My guess is Judy was about to leave poor Matt. Since she gave him her heart in marriage, he decided it was his forever, and he wasn't about to let her give it to another guy." He punctuated this last statement by pointing to the hole in the floor. He turned to look at her, clearly proud of himself. "I did well, yes?"

"Yes, but what do you want?. A pat on the head? Doggie treat maybe?" she asked.

"Just your undying gratitude," he responded, causing her to roll her eyes at him. Rather than answering,

Kate walked out of the room to check out the rest of the apartment. She was met by Esposito and Ryan coming back in. "What did you find out?" she asked

"Neighbor across the hall says she hasn't seen Judy in a week, but when she asked the husband about it he said the missus was down with a bad case of the flu. She also said she saw some other guy knocking on their door after Matt left for work two weeks ago." Esposito reported.

"Hah, see, told ya!" Castle exclaimed from behind her.

She just shot him a "shut up" look. Then she said "I saw a pay check stub on the counter in the kitchen from a construction company…"

"That explains where the bricks came from!" Castle interrupted. Evidently her shut up looks were losing their power over him.

She brought her elbow back to catch him in the ribs before continuing. "Castle and I will go over there and see if we can track down the husband."

"Do I have to go with you? You're abusing me!" he whined playfully.

"Yah, let's go. Now." She said over her shoulder as she left the apartment.

"Told you, you'd make a wonderful addition to Lady Irina's Dungeon" he called, following her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The drive to the construction company office was quiet. Castle had tried to start a conversation, but the scathing look he got in return silenced him. Now and then he cast furtive glances in her direction, trying to assess how much trouble he was in. Normally she was a "let the punishment fit the crime" kind of woman. Mentally he ran through the possibilities, weighing the likelihood of each. He started with the worst, most severe option she had.

One, she could actually kill him. Not at all likely, people would ask questions, and if she let him "accidentally" get shot during one of their suspect take-downs, she would have a ton of paperwork to do.

Two, she could break it off with him. Possible, but not too likely. He had just been having fun with her, and it wasn't as though they had been in a dangerous situation at the time, where distracting her was not only inappropriate but potentially deadly. Still, he was tempted to move the break-up scenario to the top of the worst case list. Being without her after finally knowing was it was like to be with her would be worse than death. It would take him an eternity to win her back again, if she ever let him get that close.

Three, broken bones. Again, probably too severe. It wasn't like he groped her in front of the guys or anything.

Four, she could withhold sex. Possible, and the duration options varied. She could just cold shoulder him for tonight, or a week, or a month, or… Castle shuddered. That was nearly as bad as the break-up option, worse than broken bones. He'd broken bones before, they healed, but again, to be deprived of her sensual ministrations long term would be awful, now that he knew what she was like. His only chance would be to convince her she was depriving herself as well.

Five, she could do what she did out at the beach house, leave him high and dry after getting him all worked up. She might do that, but she would have to wait until he wasn't expecting it.

Six, she could continue what she was already doing, give him the silent treatment. Overcoming that involved a calculated risk. He could try to charm and cajole her into forgiving him, which might work, or might piss her off even more.

He had to figure out a way to get back into her good graces, preferably before she handed down her "sentence". For starters, he would be the poster boy for obedience. Whatever she asked of him, he would eagerly oblige. Of course in order to ask him for anything, she would have to be willing to speak to him.

When they arrived at the construction office, Castle decided it was time to chance breaking the silence again. "Should I stay here, or come in with you?" he asked, meekly.

"If I didn't want you along for the investigation, I would have dropped you off at the first taxi stand and made your excuses when you weren't still with me at the station." With that, she got out and slammed the door. He got out and followed her into the office, but not too closely.

Kate identified herself and Castle to a receptionist, who contacted one of the managers. Kate asked him about Matt, but was told he was scheduled for vacation that week. The manager had overheard Matt saying he was going to his cabin upstate, Croton, he thought.

She thanked the manager for his time, then she and Castle headed back to the car. Once buckled in, Rick turned to her. "So, road trip?" he asked, hopefully.

"Yeah, all the way back to the station," she snapped, putting the car in gear, "where we can contact the Tax Collector's office up there and find out if Porier really does have a cabin. I'm sure as hell not driving up there on some wild goose chase."

The ride back was tense. Castle had to add another option to his punishment list. He hadn't considered open hostility as one of the choices.

"Ok, help me out here, you just said you wanted me along, now you're biting my head off?" he asked.

She sighed. She appeared to be considering something, then pulled over and turned to look at him. "I just haven't figured out what to do with you yet. It's sorta like the teacher who makes the bad kid sit right up next to her desk so she can keep an eye on him. Do you even get why I am upset?" she asked him.

"Not really. All I was trying to do was get you to smile, which worked by the way, whether you admit it or not. We deal with death and depravity all day. You need some levity to balance it," he said, reaching over to take her hand.

"That's very sweet, but you went a little too far. I missed a question I was asked because I was distracted, but what if it had been something more serious? What if the suspect returned and took us by surprise?" She stared him down, waiting for a reply.

Castle bowed his head, willingly conceding the staring contest. He contemplated his hands in his lap for a moment, formulating his answer. "I'm sorry, Kate, you're right." He said it quietly, no ego or childishness evident.

Satisfied that she had made her point, Kate reached over and took his hand. She shouldn't have been surprised at the next thing he said.

"This was a fight, right, so when do we get to have make-up sex?"

She let go and returned her hands to the wheel. With a sidelong glance, she said "Think of it like a board game. You have just been pushed back 10 spaces. To, say, BEFORE the Hamptons?"

_Ooooh so she DID choose the "no sex" option. No problem , I can recover from this. "_How far before? Like, 'I'm still single' before? Or just back to the plane ride over there?" he asked.

"Do you WANT to be single again?" Kate responded, unshielded insecurity in her tone.

"Oh honey, are you kidding? Have I not made it clear to you that THIS is what I want, more than anything else in the world? I was just fooling, trying to get you to play the jealousy card, which in a way I guess I did. But it was stupid, too soon." He reached for her hand, and when she allowed him to pull it off the wheel, brought it to his lips and kissed it tenderly. "Tell you what, why don't you drop me off, I will catch a cab home. I really should get some more writing done if we are going out tonight. We ARE still going out, right?" he asked, almost pleading.

"I suppose. Meet you there at 6:30?" she agreed.

"Yes! Excellent. See you later!" he said, getting out of the car.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Returning to the precinct, Kate grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at her desk. She looked up the number for the tax collector's office in Croton and placed the call. After she identified herself as a detective with the NYPD, she asked for property holding information for Matthew Poirier. Since this was a matter of public information, no warrant was needed. The clerk put her on hold while she checked her computer, then came back on the line to report the search had come up empty. Kate thanked the clerk and was about to hang up when a light went off in her head. She asked the clerk to run a search under Judy Poirier, and was rewarded with an address. She concluded the call and sat back, tapping her pen on her desk.

If she waited until tomorrow, and Poirier was up there, they might miss him. It was already lunch time, if she went would never make it back by dinner. She was surprised that her train of thought led her to factor in her personal life, but maybe it was time she started. After all, she had been doing the heavy lifting for quite a while now. She turned toward Esposito with the address for the cabin in hand. "Hey," she said, handing him the paper. "I'd like you to call up and make arrangements with Croton PD, then drive up there and pick up Matthew Poirier for questioning on his wife's murder."

"You…don't want to do it yourself?" he asked, confused.

"I have to take the training wheels off sometime, don't I?" she said dryly. "You guys can handle it, I trust you."

"Yeah, thanks…." He said it thoughtfully, like he still wasn't convinced. After he made the call to alert the locals, he tapped Ryan on the shoulder and motioned that they were leaving.

Looking at her desk, she realized that she had never given the badge to the guys to check out. She called Henry to let him know she was coming, then headed over to Dynagene. Henry met her in reception and escorted her to the security office. They scanned the badge, and the computer displayed the number designation. The security manager checked the number against the visitor log and frowned.

"Now this is odd," he said. "According to this log, this badge was given out to a visitor and then returned. Hmm, I don't recognize the initials of the person who logged the badge back in. It will take a little research, but I will get back to you as soon as I can."

"Thanks. Out of curiosity, who was the badge assigned to last?" Kate asked.

"Looks like Matthew Poirier" the manager replied.

"What? When?" Kate asked. Her two cases were CONNECTED? What were the odds?

"Monday night, which is very weird. Operations are at a minimum on the holidays. Let's see, he signed in at 4:40pm and was signed back out at 6pm."

Kate thanked him for his time and handed him her card, urging him to call as soon as he determined who had "logged in" the badge.

She tried calling Esposito and Ryan, but she received an automated message that they were out of area. Oh well. She decided to call it a day and go get ready for dinner.

Across town, Rick had a productive afternoon of writing, even though a piece of his brain was working out how to make amends with Kate. She had forgiven him enough to agree to keep their dinner date, the rest remained to be seen. Suddenly he had a flash of inspiration. He pulled out his phone and thumbed through the directory, until he found the number he was looking for. Seconds later the call connected. "Hey Keith, it's Rick Castle. Yeah, long time. Oh, thanks, yeah, Heat Wave has been well received. Listen, buddy, I was wondering if you could do me a favor…"

A few minutes later, his mission accomplished, Rick hurried upstairs to get ready. He arrived at the restaurant and inquired about Kate. He was rewarded with the news that she was in the lounge. He spotted her sipping a glass of wine. She was always gorgeous to him, but when she wore dress clothes he was so taken with her he could barely think straight. Tonight she had chosen an emerald green cocktail dress, which made her eyes look more amazing than usual. He approached her and kissed her cheek, then offered his arm so he could escort her back to the maître 'd so they could be shown to their table. He was so excited to tell her about the surprise, he only managed to contain himself until after appetizers.

"Do you have any plans for the July 4th weekend?" he asked her, his eyes dancing with barely suppressed enthusiasm.

"Nooooo" she answered slowly. "But I have a funny feeling I am about to."

"I hope so. I would love to take you up to Boston. We can take a Duck tour, have dinner, then go to a concert and see some fireworks."

"Concert…fireworks…Boston…." She gasped as the pieces fell in place. "You're not talking about the Pops, are you?"

"Yes I am, AND we'll have front row seats. My buddy Keith hooked me up." He tried not to sound like he was bragging this time.

"Keith LOCKHEART is one of your buddies? Holy crap, Rick, is there anyone you DON'T know?" she laughed.

"Ah, so you're familiar with his work. Is that a yes?" he said hopefully.

"That depends. Front row means prime angle for the TV cameras. This isn't going to turn into some silly publicity thing, is it?" she demanded.

_Oh crap. He hadn't considered that_. "Well we could take the yacht up instead, anchor in the harbor. We'd still hear the music and see the fireworks display."

She took in his earnest expression. "That's ok. I suppose if I am going to be 'romantically involved' with you, I'd better start getting used to the media exposure. Any chance you can limit it to two interviews tops?"

"You've got it."

"And Paula doesn't know about the trip, unless and until she absolutely has to?"

"Done. So that's a yes? Please please please?"

Kate nodded. "Absolutely yes."

"Does this mean I am off the hook for today?"

Kate scowled at him for a second, then relented. "Yes, you are off the hook. Just don't do it again."

They finished their dinner and then headed back to Kate's apartment to enjoy some alone time.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Once the door to her apartment closed, shutting out the rest of the world, Rick took Kate in his arms and held her like he hadn't been with her in a year. "This was a long day" he said.

She agreed. She started to fidget, causing him to pull back. Before he could ask what was wrong, she said "I need to go get changed, into something more comfortable."

His grin telegraphed his intentions before he even reached for her. "Allow me. What could be more comfortable than your birthday suit? Besides, there's still the make-up sex to take care of."

She regarded him with a touch of disbelief. "I forgave you, you don't get make-up sex after that."

"Ok, then how about 'thank you' sex?" his voice was playful, but husky, too. He reached behind her and found the zipper of her dress. He slowly brought it down, taking in the pale green lacy camisole underneath.

"How about…" Kate started, then stopped to kiss him, working at the buttons on his shirt, "how about we don't need a reason, we're just going to enjoy one another."

"I can work with that…" He helped her step out of her dress. Matching light green lace spanned her hips and hugged the curves of her behind. He gave her lingerie a look of admiration. "Mmm, it's not red, but I'll definitely take it." His hands followed the lace around to the back and he pulled her against him. She had finished relieving him of his shirt, so he felt the soft lace of the camisole against his chest and stomach.

For her part, she could feel his hardness pressing against her abdomen, a few inches north of where it seemed to want to be, where they both wanted it to be. She pushed away from him and led him to the couch, where she sat down. He made a move to sit beside her but she stopped him, her hands on his belt. She looked up, watched his eyes widen. She unfastened the belt and slid it free. Unable to resist, she doubled it to a loop, reached behind him without ever breaking eye contact, and smacked his behind with it. She took advantage of his stunned (but not necessarily displeased) expression, and hit him 5 more times in rapid succession. He actually yelped a bit with last two."

"That's for this morning, one for each of those naughty texts."

"But you said you forgave me." He pouted.

"Yes, and I almost forgot, but then you reminded me that you made my underthings part of this morning's discussion." Before he could sulk any further, she made quick work of the button and zipper on his pants, then slid her hands inside and around to caress his bottom, soothing the sting she had caused.

She brought her hands back around to the front and released his member from his boxers. She took him into her mouth, sucking and stroking, until he was trembling. He pushed at her shoulders to get her to ease off, unable to form the words. Seeing the state he was in, she stood up, then grasped him by the shoulders and pivoted so he sat on the couch. She slid her panties down and climbed into his lap, straddling him.

He reached up to pull her down for a kiss. His hands found her breasts and caressed her until her hips started to slide back and forth of their own volition. She lifted up and found the angle she needed to engulf him. He slid the camisole up so that his mouth could find what his hands had been working on. His licking and suckling drove Kate to frenzied motion, and he urged her on, letting her take her pleasure. At last her climax came, heralded by a cry and an expression of rapture. Seeing her release was all he needed , and he followed her with a groan and a shudder. She collapsed against him, both breathing heavily. When they had regained the strength to move, they headed into the bathroom to shower, then to Kate's bedroom. She set her alarm clock, and then settled back against him, drifting off to sleep utterly content.

The next morning, Kate entered the bull pen humming, where she encountered a grumpy Ryan and a surly Esposito. "What's up with you two today? Your fantasy football league go on strike?"

"No, but we went up there for nothing. No sign of Poirier, and we searched the cabin, but it didn't even look like it had been disturbed. Except that is, by a family of chipmunks, one of which ran up Esposito's pant leg." Ryan chuckled at the memory, but his laughter died when his partner shot him a look.

"Damn little rodent, going after my.. never mind…but I had to get a damn tetanus shot, because the little beast scratched me." Esposito grumbled.

"Ok, and why are you such a grouch, Ryan?"

"You mean, other than having to listen to Esposito piss and moan about his boo-boo ALL the way back? I missed a date with Jenny because we were on the road."

"Well guys, cheer up, you won't need to go up there again. I am relatively sure that Matthew Poirier is down in our morgue. HE is our clean room vic, assuming the dentals match. Now all we have to do is figure out who put him there and why. Here's the list of people who accessed that area during our window. Let's split up the list, conduct interviews, see if anyone had ties to Matthew Poirier."

They spent the rest of the day doing interviews. During a break, Beckett got a call from Lanie confirming that the dental records for Matthew Poirier matched their clean room victim. Then the detective team was thrown a curve ball.

One woman that they interviewed was confused. When they asked her about Memorial Day weekend, she said she was on vacation. She gave them travel details, and Esposito hurried off to verify them. Ryan asked where she kept her security badge and she told him she usually left it in her locker. She then remembered that her lock was open when she returned from vacation, but nothing appeared to have been disturbed so she forgot all about it. No one seemed to have any connection to their victim.

That night was Castle's poker game, so they all gathered around and discussed the case. Kate talked about how frustrated she was that they were at a dead end. Castle became thoughtful. Ok, so you have a badge being used by a mystery person. Most likely female, a guy in the locker room would have been noticed. Your perp was trying to cover their tracks. If they worked there, they were not using their own badge at that time. Maybe you need to look for someone whose electronic trail ISN'T there."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The next day, they went back to Dynagene, and spoke to the same security manager. He pulled up a listing of all employees who were scheduled to work that Monday, then filtered it so only the women were listed. One by one he displayed their badge activity. Three women had no activity, other than at the exterior door.

Kate requested, and was given, a conference room to conduct interviews. Two of the women turned out to be ill that day. They were not too sick to work, but they were advised by their supervisors to stay out of clean areas, so that their viruses did not contaminate the product. The third woman could not be located. The trio left Dynagene, armed with her name, Stephanie Anderson.

Back at the precinct, Kate sent Ryan and Esposito to Stephanie's house to see if they could bring her in for questioning. While they were gone, Castle showed up to take her to lunch. Since they might have a suspect coming in at any time, they ordered in. As they were finishing, the guys returned, escorting a pretty brunette. Kate motioned toward the interview room.

Rick was watching all of the activity with interest, and Kate was watching Rick. He reminded her of a cat sitting in a window, watching birds fly around, just twitching and waiting for a chance to catch one. She took pity on him. As she stood up to go conduct the interview, she looked over her shoulder at him and said "You coming or what?"

He jumped up faster than if she'd fired a starter pistol. He followed her into the interview room and they took "their" places across from Stephanie. Because she looked at him curiously, Kate introduced him.

"This is Mr. Castle, he's just observing."

"He's not JUST _anything_" Stephanie gushed. "That's RICK Castle, I'd know him anywhere. Oh my gosh it's so cool to be in the same room with you." This last was directed, naturally, at Rick.

He smiled patiently and looked at Kate. Inwardly Kate wanted to puke, she hated these fawning women. But they could use it to their advantage. She looked back to him, raising one eyebrow, then glanced to Stephanie. They had played these roles before. Star struck fans sometimes had the tendency to be too distracted to maintain their lies. And they would readily answer any question he posed to them.

"Mrs. Anderson…"he began

"It's Miss, actually, but please, call me Steph"

"Very well, then, Steph. We were hoping you could clear up a few things for us."

"Sure, anything" she interrupted again.

"Thanks. We have been trying to figure out who is responsible for the dead body that was found at your place of employment on Tuesday morning. According to the logs for the security badges, you entered on Monday afternoon at 3pm, and left at 11pm. However the logs don't show you moving around the building during that time. Why is that?"

"Maybe because I wasn't there."

"But the system shows you coming through the front door." Kate joined in.

"No, the system shows _my badge_ coming through the front door. There is no camera there. I was playing hooky, so I got a friend to badge me in and out. I work alone anyway, no one would notice if I was actually missing. I was home watching TV. Good baseball on that night." Stephanie sat back, still beaming at Rick, even though Kate was asking questions too.

"One other question, did you know Judy or Matt Poirier?"

"Who? Sorry, never heard of them."

Beckett thanked Stephanie and left the room. Castle had risen from his chair and was just about to leave when something that she said dawned on him. "You said you were home all night, the night in question, watching TV. How exactly did you manage that when there was a blackout? You see, I noticed in your file that we live on the same street. It was a small localized outage, a blown transformer…"

Stephanie's worshiping smile transformed into a sneer in the blink of an eye. She pulled a tiny gun from her pocket, and pointed it at him. He laughed to himself. Why was he always getting himself taken hostage in the police station? She moved around the table and pressed the gun to his side.

"Now listen, smart guy. You and I are going to walk out of here. You WILL make it appear as though we just hit it off and are going out. Any funny business and I shoot you." He nodded slowly, but all the while his agile mind was examining all of the possible options and outcomes. A plan began to form.

Beckett kept glancing over her shoulder at the door to the interview room. What was taking him so long in there? She rose from her desk, intent on checking on him, when the door opened and he appeared, side-by-side with Stephanie. Kate was thunderstruck. Stephanie's arm was wrapped around his waist, and her flirty smile had been turned up about 100 watts. For his part, his hands were in his pants pockets, and he had a faint indulgent smile, the one he usually reserved for groupies. When he caught sight of Kate standing there, his steps faltered but only for a second.

"Ahh, Detective Beckett. Listen, I am very sorry to do this to you, but I am going to have to reschedule our interview. Something's come up." He said, tilting his head slightly toward Stephanie.

Kate was speechless with disbelief. Was he really turned so easily? How could he do this to her, right under her nose? And what the HELL was he talking about, what interview?. But then she caught the look. He was giving her his best penetrating gaze, then he looked downward, toward her pocket. She reached down, and a second later, her phone buzzed in her hand. "Uh, ok, no problem Mr. Castle. We can reschedule. Excuse me, I don't mean to be rude, but I need to check this, I have been waiting for some lab results." She produced her phone from her pocket and checked the display, then quickly cleared it. 911 GUN was all the message said. It was 3 characters more than she needed to understand the situation.

She was careful to keep her expression neutral, as she stepped aside to let the "happy twosome" pass. As soon as Stephanie's back was to her, Kate stepped up and grabbed the woman by the hair, yanking her backward. There was a brief struggle, and then Kate had the unfortunate woman subdued.

Beckett stood up and blew the hair out of her eyes. She handed Stephanie over to Esposito and Ryan. "You OK, Castle?" She looked over him, where he was rubbing at his side. He was grinning like a moron, practically bouncing. "What?" She asked, although she already sensed what was coming.

"You, in a girl fight. Over ME. SO hot."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Later that night they were having dinner together at his apartment. They chatted about various things, the progress of his second Nikki Heat book, how Stephanie had made a full confession. Apparently Judy was her sister. Stephanie knew her brother in law was responsible for her sister's death, and had decided that the judicial system would go too easy on him.

Rick was quiet for a moment. He was recalling that awful look of betrayal on Kate's face, before he could signal her as to what was REALLY going on. That whole experience had occupied his thoughts, and motivated some actions, for most of the afternoon. He excused himself from the table and came back holding a small gift box. He placed it in front of her, dropping a soft kiss on her lips, before sitting back down at his plate.

Kate eyed the box warily. Then she reached for it and lifted the cover off the box. Nestled in the cotton were two diamond slides. She looked up at him, smiling but shaking her head.

"I owed you. You saved my ass. AGAIN. The second one is because I counted wrong before, forgot about that sadistic jewel thief that tried to carjack me." His eyes were sparkling.

"And you didn't even disobey me, either time. Still, I let you out of my sight for 5 seconds and you get in trouble," she said teasingly.

Rick's look turned more serious. "There's something else in that box, that might solve that problem."

"Oh really, and what's that? A radar collar so I can track you?" she asked, mostly kidding. He still wasn't smiling as much, so she took a deep breath and peeked under the square of cotton. There, resting at the bottom of the box, was a key on a keychain with a tiny pewter castle. Her gaze flew to his face. She was trying to form words but none were coming.

Seeing her shock, Rick said "Kate, I love you more than I have ever loved anyone. Today I saw a look of doubt on your face that I NEVER want to see again. Seeing you hurt like that just about killed me. There was a small part of me that was offended that you didn't have more faith in me, but I guess I haven't always demonstrated the greatest judgment. I wanted to give you the security that you could come by any time, day or night, and I have nothing to hide from you. If you'd like to view it as an invitation to move in, that would be ok too." He was careful with the tone of the last sentence. He wanted it to seem casual enough that she didn't feel pressured, but not so casual that she would think her answer didn't matter to him.

She lifted the key out of the box and dangled it, considering. "Tell you what. Let's just put that in the maybe column for now?" she asked.

He grinned, content with maybe, because he actually expected NO. He picked up his glass and held it toward her. "Here's to maybe, then."

A few weeks later….

Kate let herself into the vestibule of her apartment building. She pulled out her keys, rearranging them to isolate the mailbox key. She felt the little pewter castle tapping against her wrist, a daily reminder of what Rick had offered her. She fished the wad of mail out of the box and began sorting through it, automatically dumping the junk in the recycle bin in the corner. She moved the D'agostino flyer to the bottom of the pile, revealing an ivory velum envelope with her address written in calligraphy. She assumed it was a wedding invite from one of her college friends, so she flipped it over to check the return address. Kate's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Gracie Mansion? The Mayor's residence?

She slid her finger under the flap and teased open the envelope. _You are cordially invited to attend the Mayor's Ball. Black tie, 7pm , July 23, 2010. _

The next thing Kate knew, she was at the door to her apartment. She couldn't remember how she'd gotten there, but she still had the stack of mail in her hand, so that was good.The Mayors ball?

She'd heard about it, but had never actually been invited. She wondered if Castle had anything to do with this. She debated calling him, but he was due to come over in an hour anyway.

Kate went in to change, smiling to herself. Normally she hated the idea of going to an event like that, but this year, she had a guaranteed date. Handsome, a good dancer, and fun.

Her buzzer sounded a while later, and she went to let him in. She had considered giving him her spare apartment key, but she did worry he would come in and do "research", or what she preferred to call snooping. Maybe once she got one of those teddy bear nanny cams to keep an eye on the place for her.

When she opened the door, Castle was grinning like a fool. It was definitely Castle standing there, not tender, loving, passionate Rick. She actually considered them two people. And tonight she got the 12 year old. She sighed, and stepped back to let him in. "WHAT, Castle?"

"What what?" he asked innocently. His hands were behind his back.

"You've got something to say, or show me, and I can see you are about to explode, so, out with it."

He brought his hands into view, and in the right one was a velum envelope with calligraphy. Kate sighed again. Surprise, surprise.

"I know what we're doing on July 23rd" he said excitedly.

She smiled coyly. "What WE'RE doing? How could YOU possibly know what I am doing? Maybe I have plans." She turned away, sauntering to the kitchen to start making dinner. She had decided to broil some steaks, make some rice and steam some vegetables. She went into the fridge after the steaks, and when she stood up again, she glanced in Castle's direction. He looked slightly crestfallen. She pulled her invitation from the drawer. "Maybe I am going to the Mayor's Ball! Of course, I will need a date…" She tapped the envelope on the counter, appearing to think hard, before she continued. "I should check if Esposito's free…" He growled and rounded the counter, pulling her into his embrace.

"The HELL you will…." Rick made his appearance. He kissed her until she needed to come up for air, pushing at his shoulder. "Very funny" he said. "You actually had me going for a second."

"So, you seem surprised that I got one too. Your poker buddy 'Bob' didn't clue you in about that?"

"He did, I was just hoping you hadn't opened it yet. I was also assuming I would have to work to persuade you to go.

"Yeah, well, much as I hate to admit it, I had fun with you at that charity auction thing, even though we were working."

"Me too," Rick responded. "Right up until I was auctioned off along with my book. I still can't believe you wouldn't bid on me."

"Really, and I thought you would have loved having all of those people vie for you, even if they were going to have to pay. You know in a really weird way, that means your mom pimped you out." Kate said with a faint chuckle.

"Thanks" he replied darkly. He pulled away, and Kate took the opportunity to put the steaks in the broiler and the rice in the microwave.

When she was finished, he pulled her back into his arms. He took a deep breath, hesitant as to how to begin. "Kate, I would like you to do me a favor."

Kate's eyebrows shot up. "Seriously, before dinner? Sorry, Romeo, I don't want those steaks turning into shoe leather. Your 'favor' is going to have to wait until later."

Rick laughed at that. "Not what I had in mind, for once. No, I would like you to let me get you a dress for the ball."

Kate stiffened a bit. "You're asking permission? You didn't seem to need it last time. What are you up to?"

"I've had something in mind for a while, this is just the opportunity I've needed. I had to ask you because I want to send a seamstress to take some measurements. Please, let me do this for you?"

It seemed bizarre to her, normally he just did what he wanted then charmed her into forgiving him. Maybe "Rick" was starting to win out over "Castle".

She met his gaze, and as she considered him, he switched to "puppy dog eyes". "Castle" was starting to bleed through, but this time she didn't mind. She relented, nodding. "I will meet her tomorrow night, at your place."

He agreed eagerly. They could hear the steak sizzling, so they went and finished cooking dinner together. After the clean up they sat on the couch. "Now about that other favor you were offering?" Rick asked, nibbling on her ear.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Two weeks later, Kate was packing her suitcase for the trip to Boston. Lanie was sitting on the bed, watching her and offering helpful suggestions. Well, Lanie thought they were helpful. Kate didn't think much of Lanie's "Less is more" philosophy regarding lingerie. "Girl, I don't know what you're stressing about. You've already gone away with the man, and you've had so many 'sleepovers' you might as well be living together. Speaking of that, have you made any decisions yet?"

Kate huffed as she closed another drawer. "Not for sure, although I am leaning toward 'yes', if for no other reason than so I can stop spending so much on cab fare back and forth."

"Wow, that's really lame. You know Castle would take care of that for you with his car service, if you let him. Granted, that would make it easier for you to say 'no', and that's not in his best interest. Kate, you know you want to share a little love nest, don't even deny it. Now what really has you twitching about this weekend?"

"It's Alexis. Rick found out that the summer program is giving them the weekend off, so he asked me if I minded if she joined us going up to Boston. I am just nervous, this will be like a first family trip for us."

"Kate, Alexis is a smart girl with a big heart. You know she likes you, respects you enough to ask your advice on things. She knows you're good for her father. You're helping him grow up. It will all be fine. But that explains your difficulty in wardrobe choices…."

"Yeah. Rick has booked a suite, so we will have a bedroom separate from Alexis. It's just going to be so weird, I don't know how comfortable I will be getting romantic with Rick while his daughter is in the next room."

Lanie nodded her understanding. In the end, she opted for a dark blue cami set to go beneath her navy cotton cocktail dress (in the event they went someplace nice for dinner, which was pretty much a given). She also packed a white blouse and red Capri pants, denim shorts, black slacks, and some short sleeved blouses. She put in her dress heels, choosing to wear her comfy shoes. In the side pouch she placed all the lingerie, nightshirt, slippers, toiletries and her bathing suit. Alexis had let it slip that the hotel had an indoor pool.

Satisfied that she had all the bases covered, she zipped up the case and her shoulder bag and hauled them out to the living room. Since Rick and Alexis were due to pick her up, Lanie helped her downstairs and waited with her. There was no mistaking the pearly grey town car that rolled to a stop in front of her building. Rick exited the car and greeted Lanie warmly, before wrapping Kate in a hug. He reached for her bags, but when he turned around with them the driver relieved him of the luggage. "Sir, if we're going to make your flight we really should be going."

Rick nodded and ushered Kate into the car, where Alexis sat, beaming. All three waved at Lanie as the car departed. Alexis hugged Kate hello, and the two chatted about the Princeton program. Rick took Kate's hand but no more of her attention for the rest of the ride to the airport. He sat gazing out the window, listening to the conversation and smiling. Alexis and Kate had pretty much always gotten along, largely because of his daughter's maturity level. (Which exceeded his own, on occasion, and no one, himself included, could figure out how that worked.)

Upon arrival at the air terminal, the driver loaded all of the luggage onto one of the waiting carts. An airline representative escorted them to the VIP check in point. Ordinarily the attention would have ended there, but this young man waited while their IDs were verified and their larger bags were tagged for the cargo hold, then walked them through an express security checkpoint and all the way to their gate. Kate's protective instincts were starting to poke at her conscious mind, especially when the fellow shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. It was at that point that his motive became clear.

"Mr. Castle, sir, it has been an honor to help you today. I'm almost ashamed to trouble you with this, but I am a huge fan and I was wondering if I could get an autograph." Rick complied with the young man's request, even offering a few tidbits of advice when the employee confessed he was an aspiring writer.

Kate relaxed and exchanged a glance with Alexis, who shrugged good naturedly. It was all old news to her, and she turned away to have a seat in the waiting area. Kate joined her and the two resumed their chat.

Rick concluded his conversation and headed over to where "his girls" were sitting, deep in conversation.

Kate glanced up to watch him approach. She expected to see his ego preceding him by two steps. Instead he looked…apologetic. She winked at him to reassure him, then turned her attention back to Alexis.

Minutes later they were called to board the shuttle flight to Boston. When they landed at Logan, they retrieved their bags and headed toward a uniformed gentleman holding up a placard: R. CASTLE.

The driver loaded their bags in the trunk and drove them to the hotel. At check-in, the clerk greeted him warmly. "Welcome back, Mr. Castle. It's so nice that you could join us again. We've prepared your usual…." She trailed off as she consulted her computer screen, then glanced from him to Kate and Alexis. Her professional mask slipped for a microsecond, then was back in place, but not before Kate noticed it. "Erm, we've prepared Suite 1211 for you." She beckoned a bellhop. "Ray, please show Mr. Castle and his guests to their room. Mr. Castle, Ma'am, Miss, I hope you have a wonderful stay, and please don't hesitate to call the desk if there's anything you need."

Kate held her tongue as they rode the elevator and entered the room. The bellhop put their luggage in the sitting room, then left after accepting a tip from Rick. Alexis gathered her bags and headed toward the room with the single bed. Taking advantage of the private moment, Kate approached the author, who seemed to be contemplating how to wrangle his luggage AND hers into "their" room. She laughed and rescued him from his own misguided gallantry, taking her bag out of his hand and simultaneously kissing him. She motioned toward the bedroom with her head and he followed. Once inside, she dropped her bag on the luggage stand and regarded him. "Your usual room, eh? How often do you stay here, anyway? And before you answer, let me assure you, I know it's often enough for that clerk to have cultivated a nice little crush."

He studied Kate's face, looking for danger signs of jealousy. When he realized she was busting his chops, he chuckled. "Yes, I noticed it too. Actually I used to come up here quite often, but with a certain detective always demanding my assistance in crime fighting, I just don't have the time." He backed away from the threatening glint in her eye. "Now, sweetie, you should know, I was smart enough to request a room WITHOUT a balcony, so I won't be 'accidentally' plunging to my demise. Now, how shall I appease you?" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, still at a safe distance. "Aha!" he cried, and left the room. Curiosity got the better of Kate and she followed. He crossed to the table where the room service menu lay, and folded it open to the page he was seeking. He executed a mock bow as he held the menu out to her.

Kate accepted the folded menu and stifled a laugh. "Dessert" was printed on the top line in fancy scroll.

She smiled. "Lex?" she called. "Time for a chocolate fix!" Alexis appeared in her doorway immediately, one earphone bud still planted, the other dangling and bouncing. Rick grinned. Kate had managed to find the one word Alexis could always hear over her music. Apparently the two had bonded as fellow chocoholics. They agreed to order the two most decadent items they could find, then share them, leaving poor Rick to choose for himself. He opted for a slice of cherry pie, and cast a sly look Kate's way as he ordered.

After gorging on dessert, they all decided to turn in. Alexis went back to her room, Kate and Rick retreated to theirs. Kate went into the bathroom to wash up, changing into her nightshirt in the process.

Once Rick finished cleaning up, they crawled into bed and snuggled, too tired and full of dessert to attempt anything else. With the lights out, Kate could feel Rick start to relax against her. "Can I ask you something?" she asked softly.

"Hmm? Sure, honey, anything and everything." His response was groggy.

_Good, his guard is down._ This dress you're having made, what's so special about it?"

He was quiet for so long Kate feared he had drifted off to sleep. When he finally spoke his voice was completely alert. "Katherine Beckett, are you using Jedi mind tricks on me? Nice try." He began to stroke her hair, her neck and arm, until she began to relax. "No more questions, just go to sleep." He whispered in her ear, then started humming. She not only heard it in her ear, she could feel it, where her back rested against his chest. She sank into the blessed relaxation of slumber.

Castle felt her muscles go slack as the sleep claimed her. He softly kissed her shoulder and hugged her to him, pleased he could keep the secret from her for a little longer.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Not long after dawn's first rays shone on the curtains of their room, Rick woke Kate with more whispering. "Hey, gorgeous, time to face the day."

Kate was instantly conscious, smiling, until it occurred to her that SHE was the morning person. How had he managed to wake up first? Little did she know that Castle had made a resolution NOT to leave himself vulnerable to her sleepytime interrogations until after the dress was revealed. To that end, after she had drifted off the night before, he had covertly set his cell phone alarm and put it on vibrate, placing it under his pillow.

When they were all dressed, Rick, Kate and Alexis had breakfast in the hotel restaurant before setting out to take in the sights of Boston. They walked the Freedom Trail, following the red painted line from one historical location to the next. Alexis studied each sign and display carefully, soaking it all in. Kate was kept busy trying to prevent Castle from touching the artifacts beyond the velvet ropes in the various museums. When all of her best threats failed, (even forced celibacy) her final solution was to keep his hand firmly clasped in hers. His telltale smirk told her that THIS had been his goal all along.

When they were tired of walking, they had lunch at Faneuil Hall, which boasted a food court roughly the size of a small landing strip, with nearly every conceivable menu item. They bought tickets for a "Duck Tour" and traveled to the pick-up point. They boarded a purple vehicle. Once it was full, the tour guide explained that the fleet of vehicles had originally been built for trans-Atlantic troop/supply transport during World War II. They rode around the city, seeing statues and other landmarks, until the vehicle drove down a ramp and into (?) the Charles River. Scraping and mechanized noises could be heard/felt beneath their feet until it became obvious how the conveyance had earned its name. What had seemed to be a squatty bus was now a boat. The guide took them past more landmarks, citing the city's notable bragging rights in numerous hospitals and colleges. Alexis perked up noticeably at this last fact, causing Rick to shoot cranky looks at the tour guide.

At the conclusion of the tour they returned to the hotel to rest and change for dinner. They took a cab to the Prudential Center. Their ears popped as they rode the elevator to the 52nd floor, where they had dinner at the Top of the Hub. They had a window seat, with a breath-taking view of the city. Rick had seen it before, so in his mind the most breath-taking part was watching the faces of woman he loved and the daughter he cherished, as they took in the view. As they enjoyed dessert, the sun set, painting the sky with pinks and oranges. In the cab headed back to the hotel, Kate wrapped her arm around Rick's and rested her head on his shoulder, just for a moment. Alexis watched them, smiling. When they all reached their suite, Alexis disappeared into her room for a few minutes, then emerged and announced that she was going down for a swim.

Kate opened her mouth to say she would join her, but a squeeze from Rick's hand stopped her. She looked to him and he shook his head, smiling. After the teenager, wrapped in her robe and armed with a book, disappeared out the door, Kate allowed Rick to pull her to him. "That's a remarkable daughter you have. Perceptive, discrete, and willing to share her father with me."

Rick nodded his agreement, but Kate could tell that his thoughts had already turned away from his daughter to something far less innocent. He led her to their room, closing and locking the door. He reached for her again, kissing her passionately. His hands wandered down her back, cupping her behind before moving upward again. After his third pass, he pulled back, appearing confused. Reading his expression, Kate chuckled. "What's the matter, Castle, are you actually having difficulty getting a woman out of her clothes. You must be slipping." She taunted him, pulling away. "Maybe you're not qualified to be involved in this secret dress business after all."

She almost goaded him into spilling the beans, but he waggled a finger at her. "You'll find out soon enough, darling. Now, tell me how to get you out of THIS dress, or I will find my own way in, and then I will need to commission the seamstress to fix it for you." He advanced toward her, and she backed up with her hands in the air, until the backs of her knees hit the mattress. When her hands came up, he noticed the zipper pull under her arm. "Ah HAH!" He pounced, spinning her so that her back was to him. He cupped her breast through the fabric before sliding his hand to the right. His left hand found the other breast while his right hand pulled the zipper down. He released the fasteners on the shoulder straps, and she was free of the dress. He turned her back around. His eyes traveled down her body and back up, noting with appreciation the way the dark blue lace made her skin look like porcelain. Not knowing how much time they had before Alexis returned to the suite, they made love feverishly. When they were done, Rick cradled Kate for a while. He left her, murmuring "I am going to go check on Alexis." Kate nodded sleepily.

Rick ventured down to the pool room. He found Alexis relaxing in a chaise lounge, reading, her hair still damp from her swim. "Hey, pumpkin…"

She looked up, smiling. "Hi Dad. Everything ok? Where's Kate?"

"She went to bed, which is where you should be, young lady. But since you are here, can we talk?"

Alexis closed her book, her brows knitting. "Sure, what's up?"

"Are you doing OK with this? I mean, you seem OK with it, but I sorta sprung it on you, 'Hi Honey, come to Boston for the weekend, and oh by the way, Kate and I are dating now'"

"Dad, really. When you said you'd invited someone to the Hamptons, did you honestly think I couldn't figure out who you meant? I'm so happy for you. Kate is fun and smart and…and…brave, and obviously the most patient woman on the planet, if she puts up with you. I mean, I have to, blood ties and all."

"Yeah, that and the fact that I pay your allowance. Seriously though, I'm glad you like her. Now why don't we head up to bed.

Over breakfast Kate asked Alexis how the pool was. Getting an enthusiastic response, Kate suggested that they all go for a swim once their food had settled. Donning bathing suits and robes, they went to the pool and splashed around, had a three way race, and generally enjoyed themselves. Castle noted that Kate had chosen a different bathing suit, one not so easily undone. She caught him contemplating the closures on the suit top and shot him a warning glare, earning a smirk in response.

Once dried and dressed, they traveled down to the waterfront and caught a harbor cruise. Back on land, they bought sandwiches and drinks and headed to the Esplanade. They had a picnic supper and then made their way to their seats for the concert. Kate's prediction came true, they were spotted by reporters, but Rick kept his word, doing one interview with Channel 5, and one with the Boston Globe. After that he directed a meaningful glance at one of the security guards, who deftly blocked all further attention. Rick sat between Alexis and Kate, holding Kate's hand for the duration of the concert and Alexis' for as long as she permitted it. The orchestral music was lively and beautiful. (Much like "his two girls", Rick mused, watching their rapt faces.) The fireworks display began, an eye-popping assortment of red, green and purple blossoms in the sky. There were gold sidewinders and silver starbursts. Kate glanced over at Castle. The colors in the sky played over his face, a picture of child-like awe. When the show was finished, Kate glanced behind them with dismay at the huge throng of people. It would take forever, jostling through the crowd, before they could get clear. Before she could plot their path, though, Rick stood and pulled her out of her seat, toward the stage. The security guard nodded and motioned toward a "restricted access" gate. Kate and Alexis followed Castle through the gate and watched him approach a slightly younger man in a white dress shirt. He clapped the man on the back, causing him to turn. Alexis let out a small gasp.

"Omigod" she squealed. Rick turned from where he was chatting with none other than Keith Lockheart. He grinned and waved them over. They approached and introductions were made all around. Keith and Alexis talked music for a few minutes, before he made his excuses and left them to greet another eager fan..

By then the crowd had dispersed, so they caught a cab back to their hotel. They ordered a movie on pay per view, got munchies from room service. When the credits rolled, Alexis yawned and bid them goodnight.

Laying in bed, Kate turned and kissed Rick's shoulder.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"For a magical weekend. You really do know how to show a girl a good time." Kate braced for his cocky response. What she got instead surprised her.

"Thanks, I try." He said it simply, softly. "You and Alexis really seem to be getting along. I'm grateful for that. I know you weren't figuring on 'instant family' when you met me…"

They drifted off in comfortable silence.


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER 14**

Two weeks after they returned from Boston, Rick and Kate were finishing Chinese takeout at his loft after a tough day. He noticed that she looked tired. He smiled to himself and she caught him. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just…I think I have just the ticket to perk you up."

She rolled her eyes at that. "Ok, first of all, I am sorry to disappoint you but I am too tired for any of your lusty antics. Second, the size of your ego never ceases to amaze me."

Laughing, he stood up and reached for her. When she accepted his hand, he led her to the stairs. She protested. "I could always carry you…" he said with a smile. When she declined, he bent low so that his shoulder lined up with her waist. "You leave me no choice then..." and wrapped an arm around the backs of her knees, starting to hoist her like a sack of potatoes.

"Ok, ok, put me down before you lose your balance and kill us both. Have you started shadowing firefighters or what?"

She went up the stairs and into his bedroom, stopping suddenly. Hanging on the closet door was a long black garment bag. She turned to him. "The dress is ready? Why didn't you just say so?"

"Where's the fun in that?" he responded, eyes twinkling. "Go ahead…" but she was already crossing the room, reaching for the zipper. She opened the bag and gasped at the expanse of deep purple satin and chiffon. Rick backed out of the room as she lifted a fold of the fabric. "Try it on!" he called from the hallway.

Kate disrobed and pulled the dress out of the bag. She lowered it and stepped in, pulling it up. She found that it had a halter top, and she fastened it at her neck. She stepped back and opened the closet door, knowing there was a full length mirror on the other side. She barely recognized herself. The neckline of the dress formed a deep V that was somehow still modest. The satin of the bodice hugged her waist, with little tucks and gathers at the right side. The skirt had a flowing chiffon overlay with silver embroidery. It wasn't a huge bell skirt, but loose enough to be very comfortable.

She was so caught up in the image that she didn't notice Rick had come back until he was right behind her. His hands came around to her front and she assumed he was trying to hug her, until she noticed him plucking at something at her hip. He finished fussing on one side, then repeated the action on the other side before backing up to the doorway. It didn't look any different, but when she patted her hips she found there were two square-ish lumps. She sought out one of the shapes and shot him a questioning look. Her fingers found a zipper hidden in the folds of the over lay. She lowered the zipper and fished…her badge wallet?...out of what was now clearly a pocket. The other pocket held…her cuffs. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise as she looked at him. His smile was the epitome of "cat that ate the canary".

"Would you like to explain, or should we start with the fact that you were in my purse without permission?" she demanded.

His smile never faltered. "As for the purse, darling, in my mind the ends justify the means. I got those objects away from you once before, long enough to trace them so I could tell the seamstress what size to make the pockets. The reason for the pockets goes back to our high society home invasion case. There we were, in black tie formals, and you flashed your badge at that cell-phone-picture snapping schmuck. You told me I didn't want to know where you'd been keeping the badge, and believe me, I DID want to know, but it got me thinking. Male officers under cover have it easy, pants and suit jackets with lots of pockets. I decided you deserved the same options. I know you won't NEED that stuff for the mayor's ball, but if there's ever another situation where you'd need to wear an outfit like that…." He trailed off with a shrug.

Kate beamed at his thoughtfulness. She crossed the room to him, whispered "Thank you" in his ear, hugging him before leaning back for a kiss. She pulled away before things got too heated. Her hands went to the clasp on the halter and Castle's eyes lit up. "Easy, there, stud. I just want to get this back on the hanger and in the bag so it doesn't get wrinkled." She eased out of the dress and hung it up. "I assume you won't mind if I leave it here for safe keeping."

"Of course not. We'll just add it to the collection of things you've 'accidentally' left behind here over the course of the last month. It reminds me of entering a pool."

She pinned him with a withering look and he hastily continued. "By that I don't mean the 12th precinct betting pool, though I understand that's getting to be quite the complicated matrix, dates for moving in, proposal, pregnancy, and my untimely death at your hands...but I digress.

No, people preparing to enter a pool, or a lake, the ocean, some body of water, have one of two approaches. They either dive in, get all of the shock out of the way at once, or they go in by inches, get acclimated a tiny little bit at a time. You seem to be inching in, and that's fine by me, I am not trying to apply pressure. Well, much, anyway, because I will say this one last thing on the matter. People who take the plunge get to spend the rest of the time enjoying themselves. The ones creeping along are tense, worried about every splash around them. I almost used the band-aid analogy, but I'd hate for you to equate moving in with pain, or blood loss for that matter." He winked as he finished speaking.

Kate smiled. She should have known he would notice that she was making herself at home a little at a time. She offered a token protest anyway. "Maybe I'm just giving the 'pool' time to get used to me. It's one thing to have your mother and Alexis here. But you haven't had to share your bedroom in a few years." She continued as he shook his head. "I'll tell you what. Why don't we shoot for a Labor Day target date."

"As you wish, darling. Now, seeing as how you're already undressed, shall we go to bed?"


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

The evening of the Mayor's Ball finally arrived. Since Kate had left the dress at Rick's she went over there to get dressed. When she let herself in, (because really, what was the point of ringing the doorbell anymore) she was stunned to find Lanie sitting on his couch.

"'Bout time you got here. You were gonna wait till the last minute, maybe?" Beside her was a big zippered bag. Peeking out of the bag was a curling iron. "Writer boy is in his den getting dressed. He thought you might want help getting ready," she said by way of explanation. "Now let's move it."

They headed upstairs. Lanie oohed and ahhhed over the gown once Kate was dressed. She helped with Kate's makeup and hair. Kate showed her the pocket feature of the dress, and demonstrated by stowing her cuffs and badge holder. As a final touch, she pulled out the necklace with the newly added diamond slides and clasped it around her neck.

By the time Kate descended the stairs, Rick was waiting for her in the living room. He grinned at her, but his smile faded when he saw the uncertain look on her face. "What's wrong, honey?"

"It suddenly occurred to me that I must be nuts. We could hardly have chosen a MORE public way of declaring our relationship. There's no way we're going to look like 'just partners' all night."

He took her by the shoulders. "Kate, relax. You will be the most beautiful woman there, and I will be the happiest man in New York tonight to be seen with you. Now come on, the car's waiting." They said their goodbyes to Lanie and went downstairs where a white Town Car waited. During the ride to the mansion, Castle seemed extra fidgety, and he was starting to get on Kate's nerves.

"Settle down, would ya?" she snapped. He asked to play with her cuffs, which astonished her at first, but for once he had left his phone in the apartment. Just like a child, needing something to keep his hands busy, she thought. When his hands started roaming toward her, she whipped out the cuffs. She hadn't spent all that time trying to look perfect just to have him mess it up before they even got there. She almost cuffed him to the door handle, but relented and just handed them to him.

He handed them back as they were pulling up to the mansion. The driver opened their door and Rick got out, then held his hand out to her. She looked with awe at the beautiful landscaping, the white lights dotting the trees and shrubs. She took the elbow Rick offered and let him guide her into the building. They went into the banquet hall, where more white lights were strung along the ceiling and snaking around the columns.

They spotted Captain Montgomery and his wife at the same time and moved toward their table, taking seats. They ordered cocktails and chatted easily with others at the table. In short time Judge Markway and his wife joined them. A parade of waiters and waitresses appeared, bearing large trays loaded with Cesar salads. When the salad plates were cleared, their entrées were served. Rick tasted his and let out a chuckle, startling Kate. "Rocco's pumpkin gnocchi!" he cried.

After dinner, the small orchestra started up. Rick stood and held his hand to Kate, who nodded and allowed him to escort her to the dance floor. They danced a waltz or two, his strong arms guiding her surely around the floor. He gazed lovingly into her eyes, and noticed the look he was getting back was more playful than usual. "What?" he asked.

"I just hope you realize that the dance floor is one of the few places you are ever going to be able to take the lead with me," she answered.

"My dear, I know that all too well, which is why I intend to take you dancing every chance I get. Oh, and by the way," his voice dropped to a husky, sultry rumble "the bedroom is the other place I get to take the lead. Sometimes. When you let me." He quickly added.

She squinted at him and was forming a reply when he was saved by Captain Montgomery asking to cut in. "I see you finally realized the best way to keep that man in check is to keep him close to you, eh?"

Kate's jaw dropped for a second, before she gave her boss a rueful smile. "Yes sir, I suppose so."

The judge tapped the captain's shoulder as the next song began, which made Kate nervous enough, but she nearly jumped out of her skin when Mayor "Bob" himself asked for the next dance. At one point she caught Castle's highly amused glance. At the end of the song he excused himself from his partner and made his way over to "rescue" her. They danced to one more song, and then dessert was brought out. The blackberry sorbet was delicious and cooling, and the best part was if she dripped it would never be noticed on her dress.

Rick led her out to the middle of the dance floor again, promising not to relinquish her hand to anyone but the governor. After two songs, someone appeared beside them. "Hello Kate, may I have this dance?"

Kate turned toward the voice. "No th…" the rest of the polite refusal died on her lips when she realized she was face-to-face with Brad Decker, the hunky fireman. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Thanks, but no."

"Oh come on, it's the least you owe me after ditching me for this clown." The man didn't seem to want to take NO for an answer.

"The lady said no, now please go before you cause a scene." Rick's voice was calm but deadly serious.

"You can't keep a gorgeous woman like this all to yourself," protested Brad. He tried to take Kate's arm, but before she could react, Rick shoved the man back. "You'll want to go cool down, buddy, before things get…"

The last word was cut off as Brad wound up and socked Rick in the jaw. Rick went down in a heap. Kate had had enough. She spun Brad around as he towered over the fallen author. "Have you lost your mind? You've got to be some kind of idiot." She reached into her dress and produced her badge. "NYPD, moron. You are under arrest for assault. With all these city employees as witnesses, I imagine you are in for a rough disciplinary hearing. She twisted the man's arm until he yelped, (no easy feat given his size) then reached for her cuffs, but she seemed to be having trouble getting them apart.

She looked at them closely and staggered back a step as she realized why. She let go of the troublemaker, now forgotten. Linking the two wrist cuffs was a diamond ring. She looked at Rick, who was no longer sitting on the floor, but kneeling before her.

"You?" she whispered. "You orchestrated this whole thing?" He nodded. He opened his hand, and laying on his palm was his master cuff key. She caught the naughty twinkle in his eye as she took the key and used it to unlock the cuffs, releasing the ring onto her palm. It was too perfect. One tiny gold circle (with a not-so-tiny diamond) binding the two stainless bracelets. The cuffs she had used on him when he had stolen her evidence, the key he kept since their first case, not to mention the creative uses of both during their first weekend away. She looked at him again. She'd seen virtually every possible expression on his face, save this one…he was on the verge of tears.

"Katherine Beckett, two years ago you walked into my life and shook it up. I've been following you ever since, and I want to keep following you until my dying day. I love you. Please marry me."

Wordlessly she nodded, then cleared her throat and said "Yes. Oh God yes." She offered the ring on her shaking palm. He delicately picked up the ring, placing a kiss in her hand. She held out her left hand so that he could place the ring on her finger. The applause was deafening. Kate glanced around and saw Lanie, Esposito, Ryan and Jenny standing there beaming. Rick stood up and took her in his arms. He kissed her and then whispered in her ear "You'll notice I didn't order any pockets for your gun, just in case you weren't shy about shooting me in front of all of these witnesses."


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note: This isn't a real chapter, it was just the only way I knew to get the word out to everyone who added this story to their alert list. (My gracious thanks to all of you, it is super flattering to check my email and find that so many have been interested enough to click on alerts and favorites.) I messed up and didn't mention that Chapter 15 was the end of this volume of the series. I cross post this story on .net, and over there I called it done, with feelers for interest in a continuation. I have received positive feedback there as well as here, so I will be starting a third volume very soon. **

**Again, thanks, and giddy grins for all my reviews. **


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